Genre Hybrids

• We can hope to engage with these problems by considering a more advanced approach to Genre Theory.
• Rick Altman in his book Film/Genre has proposed what he calls the SEMANTIC/SYNTACTIC APPROACH

1.Semantic

• This is concerned with the conventions of the genre that communicate to the audience such as character, location, props, musci, shooting style and other signs./

- Genre and Iconagraphy

- Western

-Horses

- Guns

-Native Americans

2. Syntactic

-This is concerned with the relations between these elements and the structure of narratives in genres.

- e.g In a romantic comdey we expect the potential lovers to begin not liking each other.

- There are then a series of meetings/problems(enigmas) which culminate in their succesful relationship.

- BY employing the semantic/syntactic approach, it enables us to produce a more sophisticated reading of any genre.

-However, this approach can be developed further by also considering audiences and institutions.

-Altman expanded his approach to include these elements by proposing a semantic/syntactic/pragmatic approach

-This latter aspect includes institutions and audiences